Tag: buildings

Have you ever come across a pair of doors that have just a top vertical rod exit device and not top and bottom, and wondered why? Often an architect or specification writer will specify “less bottom rod (LBR)” on pairs of doors, especially in healthcare facilities.

This photo was taken in an assisted living facility here in St. Louis. This opening is a pair of fire rated corridor doors which means they must positively latch in case of a fire to control flames and smoke from traveling through the facility. Without latching hardware on the exit device itself, positive latching is accomplished with the surface mounted top vertical rod. As you can see from the picture, the door is being held open with a magnetic hold open tied into the fire alarm. If the fire alarm is activated the hold open will release the door. The door closer will swing the door shut and the top vertical rod will latch the door.

This leads us to the question of why the architect or specification writer specified LBR. While the top and bottom vertical rods help secure the door, the bottom vertical rod is secured to a floor strike mounted in the floor. That floor strike can become a tripping hazard to people that use mobility devices, such as canes, walkers, crutches, and wheelchairs. ADA regulation 404.2.10, Door and Gate Surfaces, states: “Swing door and gate surfaces within 10 inches (255mm) of the finish floor or ground measured vertically shall have a smooth surface on the push side extending the full width of the door or gate.” The regulation goes on to specify how thick protection plates and installation screws can be.

This installation is a textbook example of the intersection of fire code and ADA regulations. The goal is to keep people safe both from fire and tripping. When architects and door hardware professionals work together, the result can be a safe, attractive and code compliant facility.

DHI Door Security + Safety Magazine recently announced the winners of the Robert G. Ryan Awards. The awards are presented to the best volunteer authors of articles appearing in the previous calendar year in the magazine and cover both technical and business-related topics.

Two team members won in the category of – Feature and Business Article.

First place went to Brian Clarke, DHT, AHC, DHC, CFDAI for his article Securing Schools: Solutions Trends in Educational Facilities from the June 2017 DSS magazine issue. Brian also received the Recognition of Outstanding Service and Involvement (ROSI) award and celebrated 5 years as a DHI instructor.

This article appears in the October issue of the DHI Security + Safety Magazine and is reprinted here with their permission.

Historic buildings pose a unique security challenge. By their very nature they are outdated – from the original materials to antique hardware, they exist to showcase just how different things used to be. However, progress has often happened for a reason, and one of the leading reasons is security.

Antique door hardware may have been built to last, manufactured from heavy-duty metals, but modern security issues require more than physical strength. Access credentials, controlled entry, and electronic logging are all emerging as security necessities. Fortunately, electronic access control systems are built to seamlessly and almost invisibly integrate into projects, including historic buildings where authenticity is paramount.

There are several access control systems that feature scalable parts that integrate wirelessly into a central control system with queriable reports, but when the time came to upgrade the Hager headquarters, the obvious choice was HS4, Hager powered by Salto, the security system recently rolled out by Hager Companies.

Next week, several members of the Hager team will be heading to Long Beach, California for the annual Specifications Consultants in Independent Practice meeting, better known as SCIP, and the CONSTRUCT Education and Exhibits show.

We always have a great time at both events and it gives us a chance to chat with specification writers to learn how we can better help their processes and solve any pain points.

CONSTRUCT 2014 – Baltimore

Our complete line of door hardware falls under one brand, the Hager brand, and we take pride in writing true non-proprietary specifications. We focus on being correct, clear, concise and complete to make sure all parties in the channel understand how each door opening is expected to function before it’s installed.

Have you had a chance to catch your breath? What an amazing few days in Baltimore at DHI ConNextions. One of the best things about being in the Door and Hardware Industry is the fact it’s a relatively small group of people. Typically, at one point or another in our careers, we have either worked with or have known of one another for many years. So, when we attend and exhibit at ConNextions it really is like a family reunion.

Hager had a lot of representation both from St. Louis headquarters, including the Hager Family, and our wonderful sales representatives.

Wednesday many team members attended the keynote presentation “Beyond Tragedy: Response and Recovery in a School Based Crisis”. The speaker was Michele Gay, a mother and former teacher, who helped founded Safe and Sound: A Sandy Hook Initiative. It was a powerful presentation about her day on December 14, 2012, when her daughter was one of 26 people who was shot at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Her strength and courage were felt throughout the room. Her words reignited our mission to provide great products at a fair price with exceptional customer service to keep occupants of buildings safe and secure.

Next week, several members of the Hager Family and team members will head to Baltimore for the annual DHIConNextions show.

For the Hager team, this show is all about connecting with our customers. We want to hear what’s new in their lives and businesses; collaborate our efforts in order to grow their sales; and, of course, showcase our new products. In the last year, we’ve released the following products:

We will also have demonstrations with our HS4 Electronic Access Control products including the newest communication platform BLUEnet. We are especially excited by BLUEnet’s ability to provide a real-time (within 4 seconds) lock communication, keeping people safer in an active shooter situation.

If you’d like to attend the show but haven’t purchased a pass yet, we have complimentary VIP Exhibit Hall Passes available. Just click on this link and in the Promo Code box type hagevip.

This article was published in the DHI, Door Security + Safety Magazine in January 2018 issue

Keeping occupants safe is a common goal for facility managers and property owners. As the number of break-ins, active shooter incidents and other violent encounters continue to grow, controlling who enters a building has become more vital than ever before.

For healthcare, education and office buildings, standard door and key configurations do not always provide the type of security necessary. This is leading decision-makers to look at more sophisticated access control solutions. The electronic access control market has become more refined in recent years and it is important to know what is available and what may fit the needs of a given facility. Furthermore, the type of hardware chosen must be code-compliant, making proper selection even more important.

In high use buildings, such as a school or office building, access control must allow for a door opening to have free means of egress, during an emergency, along with fire protection and meet accessibility requirements. The International Building Code (IBC) defines an accessible means of egress as a “continued and unobstructed way of egress travel from any point in a building or facility that provides an accessible route to an area of refuge, a horizontal exit or a public way.”

This article was published in the August edition of the DHI Door + Hardware Magazine and reprinted here with permission.

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Come Two by Two. A Look Inside Noah’s Ark, by Ginny Powell

Tucked into the “All American City” of Lakeland, Florida, is not just a community, but the realization of a dream initiated by a small group of parents nearly 20 years ago. It’s called The Village at Noah’s Landing.

Nearly two decades ago, a small group of parents of adult children with special needs met while watching their children take part in sporting activities. They began talking with each other about what would happen to their kids if they were no longer around. Who would oversee their care?

Their worries were further reinforced when they discovered that the options for care in and around Lakeland were extremely limited. But instead of becoming defeated, these five sets of parents took action. Big action. In 1997, they created Noah’s Ark of Central Florida.

The first homes were built between 2002 and 2007 and are located near downtown Lakeland. Called Noah’s Nest, this clustering of four houses is home to 17 residents living independently with the support of their fellow residents, family, and friends.

A Dream of Building a Community
While Noah’s Nest was a great start, the dream was always to build a bigger community for adults with developmental disabilities. The Villages of Noah’s Landing, with Phase 1 scheduled to open later this summer, is precisely that.

Phase 1 can accommodate up to 132 developmentally disabled residents and only takes up a fraction of the property’s 62 acres. When all phases are complete, the community will offer a wide selection of social, recreational, educational and vocational choices, and provide for the health care needs of its residents.

We are back from the NFMT Show in Baltimore and as always, we had a great time. This is a terrific show to see, and listen to the people who install and maintain our hardware.

The Hager Team arrived in Baltimore Monday to bright blue skies. After a stop to drop off luggage at the Hilton Inner Harbor we headed to the Baltimore Convention Center to organize the product displays, giveaways and literature in our booth.

There has been a lot of information written about classroom barricade devices. We have been watching this subject closely and are dismayed to see states overriding State, Federal and International Building Codes by allowing barricade devices. Ohio, sadly, has lead the charge. There isn’t a simple or quick solution to this issue but our goal is to remind parents, students, teachers and politicians to look at the whole picture and use their building code officials and the door and hardware industry as expert sources.

The article below was written by Lt. Joe Hendry, CLEE who is a 26 year veteran of the Kent State Police Department. He serves as an Intelligence Liaison Officer for the Ohio Department of Homeland Security and has been named a subject matter expert by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for active threat response. Lt. Hendry holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications and served honorably in the United States Marine Corps. He is a trained crisis intervention team officer in mental health. He is an instructor in solo-engagement tactics, active shooter response, preventing and responding to suicide bombing incidents and tactical chemical weapons. He is a national instructor the the ALICE Training Institute and has trained staff and students, and consulted on security plans for pre-school, K-12, universities, hospitals, libraries, MRDD facilities, business and industry. In other words he is an expert.

This article appeared in the October edition of DHI Doors and Hardware Magazine. Lt. Hendry has graciously allowed us to reprint his article in order to help continue the education on this emotional subject.******

The first time I ever observed a secondary locking device, it was at the State Fire Marshal’s Academy in Ohio. I was teaching an ALICE Instructor course, and a student in the class brought a device he had made to help secure a door. During a break, he demonstrated the device, and yes, it did what he said – it secured the door using the bottom of the door and the wall.

It had a few steps to install, and at the time, with Sandy Hook only four months in the rear view mirror, looked to be an impressive device. Several educators and law enforcement officers in the class remarked that they liked the device. I was non-committal but felt it might bear looking into given the concept failure of lockdown in the building breach at Sandy Hook. Looking back, the irony of the device, the location, and my naiveté has not been lost on me.

During the past two years, I have learned more about codes, doors, locks and devices than I ever thought I would need to know as a police officer. Learning the reason behind code development, door and lock manufacturing, visual communication design, and tactical civilian and law enforcement response to threats has become a way of life. As a law enforcement expert in the field of active threat response, I’m repeatedly asked for recommendations on what secondary locking device to purchase for buildings. My original thought of, “These might be the answer to our prayers,” to, “These may be the worst idea we have ever had,” evolved as I studied and learned.

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